Cancer services are vastly improved across Britain compared with 20 years ago, but occasionally misdiagnosis of cancer does happen. If you have suffered as a result of misdiagnosis of cancer, or failure to diagnose cancer, and someone has been negligent, you may be able to make a claim for compensation.

Leukaemia is cancer of the blood, caused by a mutation in a cell of the bone marrow. It has various symptoms and can be detected by blood tests and bone marrow biopsy. For some people, the symptoms of leukemia are painfully acute, while other times the symptoms are so subtle that they go unnoticed for years or even decades.

A cancer diagnosis is physically, mentally and emotionally overwhelming and one of the most traumatic events in a person's life. Negligence claims for leukaemia sufferers will often be due to delayed diagnosis or misdiagnosis. People with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia or chronic myelogenous leukaemia may often have vague symptoms or none at all. They can be similar symptoms to other diseases, conditions and disorders like; influenza, aging, bleeding disorders and upper respiratory infection.

Misdiagnosis can and does occur and is reasonably common with error rates ranging from 1.4% in cancer biopsies to a high 20-40% misdiagnosis rate in emergency or ICU care

There are various reasons why a misdiagnosis can occur which include errors in false positive results given by the doctors, specialists or from laboratory tests, due to this a patient can be given unnecessary treatment. Late diagnosis can result in additional suffering for the patient and may lead to a worsening of symptoms and even death.

Cancer is one of the most common serious illnesses in the UK with statistics showing that one in three of us will develop some form of it during our lifetime.

The problem can be where you suffer from cancer but you are given a negative result following tests, or the medical team treating you fails to make a diagnosis at all. In this scenario, failure to diagnose can mean that the cancer is allowed to grow untreated. The opportunity to treat the cancer can be lost completely, leading to additional pain and suffering and possibly to a reduced life expectancy or death.

Medical negligence claims involving cancer often involve one of the following factors:

Failure to diagnose – this can be due to your doctor either missing or misinterpreting your symptoms, or misinterpreting test results

Delay in diagnosis – this can be caused by delayed referrals to specialists, delays in carrying out a biopsy or failure to act quickly enough in reaction to test results, as well as many other factors

Misdiagnosis – some patients are diagnosed as having cancer when they do not. This can lead to them having to endure difficult and painful treatments such as chemotherapy unnecessarily

A specialist solicitor can deal with medical negligence compensation claims for any type of cancer where your health care provider has been negligent.

How much can I claim?

A number of factors will determine the value of your settlement:

The type of injury and how severe the injury is

Did you recover fully from the injury or do you have ongoing problems

What are the long term effects on your health

Did the injury cause you other losses such as loss of earnings

What can I claim compensation for?

Pain and suffering

Loss of earnings

The loss of comfort/convenience/quality of life caused by your injury

Medical care costs

Costs involved in adapting your home to meet your new requirements as a result of your injury

Other out of pocket expenses incurred whilst receiving medical treatment, such as travel expenses

Making a claim for compensation

A specialist medical negligence solicitor can assess your case and inform you about:

How strong your case is

The likelyhood of making a successful claim

The amount of compensation you may receive if your claim is successful